The Rosie Project (Graeme Simsion)
Synopsis
An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock.
Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
Verdict
I read this book when I saw Bill Gates mention its sequel The Rosie Effect as one of the best books he read in 2014.
I enjoyed this book with an unusual premise. I thought that this must be what it’s like to be in the heads of Sheldon Cooper (of The Big Bang Theory) or Sherlock Holmes (of Sherlock).
It was pretty hilarious to read how such a smart man could be so oblivious to social conventions and sarcasm, and it was touching to see how he transformed in the end. I just love dynamic characters!
I also thought his questions for his wife project were funny. I would definitely fail his test, based on the punctuality alone. But it made me think, if I did a husband project, what questions would I put on my survey?
I haven’t gotten my hands on its sequel yet, but I plan to.
Good Reads Rating: 4.1 stars
Yes Please (Amy Poehler)
Synopsis
In Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious.
Powered by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book is full of words to live by.
Verdict
I read this book because it kept showing up on blogs, and because I loved Amy in Parks and Recreation.
I think this is one of the most enjoyable biographies I’ve ever read. I liked it more than Tina Fey’sBossypants. It’s really funny and pretty insightful, too. There were a lot of things she said which resonated with me. Definitely worth a read.
Quotable Quotes
If you are lucky, there is a moment in your life when you have some say as to what your currency is going to be. I decided early on it was not going to be my looks. Decide what your currency is early. Let go of what you will never have. People who do this are happier and sexier.
When the demon starts to slither my way and say bad stuff about me I turn around and say, “Hey. Cool it. Amy is my friend. Don’t talk about her like that.” Sticking up for ourselves in the same way we would one of our friends is a hard but satisfying thing to do. Sometimes it works.
It’s easier to be brave when you’re not alone. We were young and foolish and didn’t know what we were up against. Thank God.
Most men fear getting laughed at or humiliated by a romantic prospect while most women fear rape and death.
I believe you can time-travel three different ways: with people, places, and things.
Good Reads Rating: 3.81 stars
Paper Towns (John Green)
Synopsis
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows.
After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.
Verdict
John Green wrote beautifully, as always, but I did not like this book as much as The Fault in Our Starsbecause I found the characters to be a bit irritating, especially the two leads, and as much as I love a good mystery, I just could not get past that. It was intriguing and at times amusing, but neither charming nor touching. While I liked some lines, I did not like the plot overall.
Quotable Quote
Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement. There was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future, and so they spent more time thinking about it. About the future. And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future.
Good Reads Rating: 4.03 stars
The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins)
Synopsis
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
Verdict
This thriller is said to be comparable to Gone Girl, Before I Go to Sleep and The Silent Wife. This book was so thrilling that I picked it up at around 1am on a Saturday and couldn’t let it go. I only went to sleep at 6am after I was done reading it.
I guess that is a testament to how intriguing the book is. That or to what a nut I am.
It’s not as twisted as Gone Girl, so people who were haunted by how that book ended will not hate this as much.
Now I want to start on The Silent Wife, but I should probably do it on a night when I don’t have work the next day.
Good Reads Rating: 3.92 stars
I was Here (Gayle Forman)
Synopsis
When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning?
But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.
Verdict
I liked the mystery part (are you starting to see a pattern here?) but I thought the romance part was so contrived and completely unnecessary. It was an interesting look at how the mind of a suicidal depressed person works, and it opened my eyes to that horrible part of the internet that is the suicide forums, which is real, because part of this story was based on a real person.
This one is not as good as Gayle’s other book, If I Stay, but not a complete waste of time either.
Good Reads Rating: 4.1 stars
Have you read any good books recently, especially ones which are similar to the ones I mentioned I loved? Please let me know so I can have something to add to my reading list!
This post is part of the A to Z Challenge, a blog hop that goes through the alphabet for all the days of April except Sundays. Today’s feature is R for Recent Reads.
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Rosie Project sounds interesting Dee! The Paper Town actually is made into a movie na. My niece likes it! haha!
I agree about John Greene. I picked up some more of his books after A Fault In The Stars. I haven’t found one I loved as much as that one.
I agree about John Greene. I picked up some more of his books after A Fault In The Stars. I haven’t found one I loved as much as that one.
Rosie Project sounds interesting Dee! The Paper Town actually is made into a movie na. My niece likes it! haha!